Provides an overarching historical and geographical analysis of the region combined with a focus on many important themes and issues of contemporary Latin American development. Introduces readers to the politics, economies, and cultures of Latin America, outlining the region's key development challenges, the diverse ways in which its peoples are responding to such challenges and ways in which such challenges and responses can be theorized. Existing competition is either dated, lacks a consistent focus on development or else lacks the student friendly pedagogy of the text. Empirical information and analysis is drawn from all areas of the region and includes the majority of important events over an extended period of time, but especially in recent years. Focus on transformations provides a unifying theme and focuses the text and provides a useful avenue for engaging students. Key Changes for the New Edition The entire text will be revised and updated in a way that takes into account changes that have taken place since publication (deaths of leaders, elections of new leaders, retreat of Pink Tide, Colombian peace accords, new forms of social mobilization, the intensification of extractivism, murders of environmental defenders, major disasters, the new contours of feminist and anti-patriarchal struggles). All of the boxes will be replaced with new and more recent examples, as will many of the photos, illustrations and web resources. The new edition will feature new chapters on conceptual underpinnings, Latin America and the World, Disastrous Development, Afro-descendent Struggles and the Latin American City. The chapters will also be reordered so that the theoretical approaches covered in the text are foregrounded and so the new edition will start with the key theoretical approaches to be covered (especially decolonial theory) and then the theory will be drawn upon throughout. There is also a need for nuanced analysis of contemporary and highly polarizing events that students are seeking to understand (in particular, what went wrong in Venezuela or whether what is going on in Bolivia is a coup) so there will be good coverage of these aspects.

Although there are human geographers who have previously written on matters of media and communication, and those in media and communication studies who have previously written on geographical issues, this is the first book-length dialogue in which experienced theorists and researchers from these different fields address each other directly and engage in conversation across traditional academic boundaries. The result is a compelling discussion, with the authors setting out statements of their positions before responding to the arguments made by others. One significant aspect of this discussion is a spirited debate about the sort of interdisciplinary area that might emerge as a focus for future work. Does the already-established idea of communication geography offer the best way forward? If so, what would applied or critical forms of communication geography be concerned to do? Could communication geography benefit from the sorts of conjunctural analysis that have been developed in contemporary cultural studies? Might a further way forward be to imagine an interdisciplinary field of everyday-life studies, which would draw critically on non-representational theories of practice and movement? Readers of Communications/Media/Geographies are invited to join the debate, thinking through such questions for themselves, and the themes that are explored in this book (for example, of space, place, meaning, power, and ethics) will be of interest not only to academics in human geography and in media and communication studies, but also to a wider range of scholars from across the humanities and social sciences.

Provides an overarching historical and geographical analysis of the region combined with a focus on many important themes and issues of contemporary Latin American development. Introduces readers to the politics, economies, and cultures of Latin America, outlining the region's key development challenges, the diverse ways in which its peoples are responding to such challenges and ways in which such challenges and responses can be theorized. Existing competition is either dated, lacks a consistent focus on development or else lacks the student friendly pedagogy of the text. Empirical information and analysis is drawn from all areas of the region and includes the majority of important events over an extended period of time, but especially in recent years. Focus on transformations provides a unifying theme and focuses the text and provides a useful avenue for engaging students. Key Changes for the New Edition The entire text will be revised and updated in a way that takes into account changes that have taken place since publication (deaths of leaders, elections of new leaders, retreat of Pink Tide, Colombian peace accords, new forms of social mobilization, the intensification of extractivism, murders of environmental defenders, major disasters, the new contours of feminist and anti-patriarchal struggles). All of the boxes will be replaced with new and more recent examples, as will many of the photos, illustrations and web resources. The new edition will feature new chapters on conceptual underpinnings, Latin America and the World, Disastrous Development, Afro-descendent Struggles and the Latin American City. The chapters will also be reordered so that the theoretical approaches covered in the text are foregrounded and so the new edition will start with the key theoretical approaches to be covered (especially decolonial theory) and then the theory will be drawn upon throughout. There is also a need for nuanced analysis of contemporary and highly polarizing events that students are seeking to understand (in particular, what went wrong in Venezuela or whether what is going on in Bolivia is a coup) so there will be good coverage of these aspects.

The Routledge Handbook of Latin American Development seeks to engage with comprehensive, contemporary, and critical theoretical debates on Latin American development. The volume draws on contributions from across the humanities and social sciences and, unlike earlier volumes of this kind, explicitly highlights the disruptions to the field being brought by a range of anti-capitalist, decolonial, feminist, and ontological intellectual contributions. The chapters consider in depth the harms and suffering caused by various oppressive forces, as well as the creative and often revolutionary ways in which ordinary Latin Americans resist, fight back, and work to construct development defined broadly as the struggle for a better and more dignified life. The book covers many key themes including development policy and practice; neoliberalism and its aftermath; the role played by social movements in cities and rural areas; the politics of water, oil, and other environmental resources; indigenous and Afro-descendant rights; and the struggles for gender equality. With contributions from authors working in Latin America, the US and Canada, Europe, and New Zealand at a range of universities and other organizations, the handbook is an invaluable resource for students and teachers in development studies, Latin American studies, cultural studies, human geography, anthropology, sociology, political science, and economics, as well as for activists and development practitioners.

The westernized university is a site where the production of knowledge is embedded in Eurocentric epistemologies that are posited as objective, disembodied and universal and in which non-Eurocentric knowledges, such as black and indigenous ones, are largely marginalized or dismissed. Consequently, it is an institution that produces racism, sexism and epistemic violence. While this is increasingly being challenged by student activists and some faculty, the westernized university continues to engage in diversity and internationalization initiatives that reproduce structural disadvantages and to work within neoliberal agendas that are incompatible with decolonization. This book draws on decolonial theory to explore the ways in which Eurocentrism in the westernized university is both reproduced and unsettled. It outlines some of the challenges that accompany the decolonization of teaching, learning, research and policy, as well as providing examples of successful decolonial moments and processes. It draws on examples from universities in Europe, New Zealand and the Americas. This book represents a highly timely contribution from both early career and established thinkers in the field. Its themes will be of interest to student activists and to academics and scholars who are seeking to decolonize their research and teaching. It constitutes a decolonizing intervention into the crisis in which the westernized university finds itself.

This is the first comprehensive volume to explore and engage with current trends in Geographies of Media research. It reviews how conceptualizations of mediated geographies have evolved. Followed by an examination of diverse media contexts and locales, the book illustrates key issues through the integration of theoretical and empirical case studies, and reflects on the future challenges and opportunities faced by scholars in this field. The contributions by an international team of experts in the field, address theoretical perspectives on mediated geographies, methodological challenges and opportunities posed by geographies of media, the role and significance of different media forms and organizations in relation to socio-spatial relations, the dynamism of media in local-global relations, and in-depth case studies of mediated locales. Given the theoretical and methodological diversity of this book, it will provide an important reference for geographers and other interdisciplinary scholars working in cultural and media studies, researchers in environmental studies, sociology, visual anthropology, new technologies, and political science, who seek to understand and explore the interconnections of media, space and place through the examples of specific practices and settings.

In Mexico City, as in many other large cities worldwide, contemporary modes of urban governance have overwhelmingly benefited affluent populations and widened social inequalities. Disinvestment from social housing and rent-seeking developments by real estate companies and land speculators have resulted in the displacement of low-income populations to the urban periphery. Public social spaces have been eliminated to make way for luxury apartments and business interests. Low-income neighbourhoods are often stigmatized by dominant social forces to justify their demolition. The urban poor have however negotiated and resisted these developments in a range of ways. This text explores these urban dynamics in Mexico City and beyond, looking at the material and symbolic mechanisms through which urban marginality is produced and contested. It seeks to understand how things might be otherwise, how the city might be geared towards more inclusive forms of belonging and citizenship.

In Mexico City, as in many other large cities worldwide, contemporary modes of urban governance have overwhelmingly benefited affluent populations and widened social inequalities. Disinvestment from social housing and rent-seeking developments by real estate companies and land speculators have resulted in the displacement of low-income populations to the urban periphery. Public social spaces have been eliminated to make way for luxury apartments and business interests. Low-income neighbourhoods are often stigmatized by dominant social forces to justify their demolition. The urban poor have however negotiated and resisted these developments in a range of ways. This text explores these urban dynamics in Mexico City and beyond, looking at the material and symbolic mechanisms through which urban marginality is produced and contested. It seeks to understand how things might be otherwise, how the city might be geared towards more inclusive forms of belonging and citizenship.

The westernized university is a site where the production of knowledge is embedded in Eurocentric epistemologies that are posited as objective, disembodied and universal and in which non-Eurocentric knowledges, such as black and indigenous ones, are largely marginalized or dismissed. Consequently, it is an institution that produces racism, sexism and epistemic violence. While this is increasingly being challenged by student activists and some faculty, the westernized university continues to engage in diversity and internationalization initiatives that reproduce structural disadvantages and to work within neoliberal agendas that are incompatible with decolonization. This book draws on decolonial theory to explore the ways in which Eurocentrism in the westernized university is both reproduced and unsettled. It outlines some of the challenges that accompany the decolonization of teaching, learning, research and policy, as well as providing examples of successful decolonial moments and processes. It draws on examples from universities in Europe, New Zealand and the Americas. This book represents a highly timely contribution from both early career and established thinkers in the field. Its themes will be of interest to student activists and to academics and scholars who are seeking to decolonize their research and teaching. It constitutes a decolonizing intervention into the crisis in which the westernized university finds itself.

The Routledge Handbook of Latin American Development seeks to engage with comprehensive, contemporary, and critical theoretical debates on Latin American development. The volume draws on contributions from across the humanities and social sciences and, unlike earlier volumes of this kind, explicitly highlights the disruptions to the field being brought by a range of anti-capitalist, decolonial, feminist, and ontological intellectual contributions. The chapters consider in depth the harms and suffering caused by various oppressive forces, as well as the creative and often revolutionary ways in which ordinary Latin Americans resist, fight back, and work to construct development defined broadly as the struggle for a better and more dignified life. The book covers many key themes including development policy and practice; neoliberalism and its aftermath; the role played by social movements in cities and rural areas; the politics of water, oil, and other environmental resources; indigenous and Afro-descendant rights; and the struggles for gender equality. With contributions from authors working in Latin America, the US and Canada, Europe, and New Zealand at a range of universities and other organizations, the handbook is an invaluable resource for students and teachers in development studies, Latin American studies, cultural studies, human geography, anthropology, sociology, political science, and economics, as well as for activists and development practitioners.

Dinner Bells, Pecan Shells, and True Tales from Home is a unique collection of heartwarming and humorous accounts of the life and times of alumni and staff of the Louisiana Baptist Children's Home. Their stories are THE story of the Children's Home that tell of friendships made, personal growth, and more.